A Robin in the Night
by Aiko Isari
Summary: Her mother is buried, people are whispering. And then, and then, a woman takes her hand and takes her home. And she knows exactly what she needs and who. Too bad she has no idea. But never doubt Midoriya Inko.
1. Chapter 1

_Warnings: Child abuse, poverty, character death, attempted murder, trauma to a_ child

* * *

Part One - There's Such a Thing As Too Special

The body of her mother is ugly in death.

It's twisted and awkward, forced to snap back into place to fit into the coffin for burning. Her face is the only pretty, sensible thing. They won't show it, the relatives found one of the better pictures of her mother for her to carry through the procession. The ones right after her marriage or before she was pregnant had been examined with care by a cousin. Chise, having been unable to eat, had slept through it all.

Now Chise, who looked so much like her according to every whisper, did not remember her mother's pretty face. She remembered her clammy, sweaty hands over a birdlike neck. She remembered kicking and gasping, remembered her mother's words-

 _You should not have been born-_

In her soul.

The darkness whispered into her ears, crawling up the wall she sat against. Chise shut her eyes to it, her heart trembling with an urge to cry itself. There were no tears, however.

If she cried, the monsters would come up and eat them. And then they would eat her.

They had done that to Mama too. They had eaten all that was good and left only a monster in place. Only a monster who hated her daughter, who blamed her for the curse they shared.

Mama must have been powerful, she realized. Her stronger perhaps, but her mother was the one with the stronger heart, the better endurance. She was an adult with years of experience.

And now she was dead.

She wasn't just gone like her father and brother. She was dead so she was never going to come back.

Was her father dead? Was her brother dead? Would she know? Ever? Probably not. She had to keep away from them or they would turn on her like her mother too. And, and her brother was such a baby he was so small, what could she do to him?

 _What can he do to me?_

Her father could finish what her mother started. He may never have a reason to, or may never find her to do it, but he still _could_. Knowing that made her heart clench, but it was also easier, better. Because where she stood was clear.

 _I don't wanna…_

Chise tried to cap the thought, dragging her fingers over the floor to remind herself of how it felt. But it was, unfortunately, already smothered in shadow, soft and warm and… fluffy? It was almost like fur. It was already trying to warm her chest. She swallowed another sob.

Something brushed her cheek and her eyes opened wide, frantic and large. She made to back away but there was nowhere she could run. There were people on every side.

Then, her vision cleared from its panicked blur, revealing a short woman with a rounded face. Her large green eyes were almost teal and her cheeks surprisingly sallow. Maybe it was because of the lighting but she looked frightfully young.

Then she smiled.

Chise had learned from her father that if you were too unkind, it would take to your face and body and cause you to wither from the weight of your own cruelty. She was the opposite, all warm smiles and gentle hands. They weren't strong from work nor weak from doing nothing at all. They were somewhere calloused in the middle.

"Chise-chan," she murmured, like they'd known each other for years. "Can I call you that?"

Chise balked, resisted the urge to curl in on herself. She'd not spoken to anyone before for long, never been around people that weren't family for very long without having to leave and now and now-

"Hatori-chan?" the woman tried. "My name is Midoriya Inko. My husband is your father's brother."

"I… what?" Her throat hurt but the surprise of all of that sentence was just so big like a balloon that she couldn't help herself. "P-Papa had a brother?" They had never met, but then, the last thing she remembered was his back and Fumiki's sleeping face as he drooled on her father's frayed shirt. "He, he didn't-"

"He wouldn't have." Midoriya-san squeezed her hand and when she did, the shadows hid behind Chise's bottom. "My husband's Quirk is not fit for children to see, really. Fire breathing, quite like a dragon from the old stories."

Chise wilted at the thought because she could imagine it. She could imagine the flames reaching out and consuming everything, making her brother cry, taking her father with ease. Then, she blinked. Confusion rubbed her head. "A Quirk?" The word was familiar, tasteful on her tongue. She could imagine her father whispering about it in between the moments of magic and thought and weight but then her father wasn't here.

"Yes," she said gently. "Do you have one? Some people who are in a lot of pain don't experience a Quirk coming to life for a long time. Your father never really communicated with us all that much but things must have been hard."

Hard. It felt like an understatement, felt too small for what it actually was, too weak of a word. But it was also a careful word, a place where she could feel like herself and say things she believed. It wasn't forcing words onto her and with her mother gone, no one could do that again.

Still. She has asked about a Quirk. Is the Quirk important? Is having one important? She hadn't been outside alone, so she had no idea. She hardly saw people use Quirks, except maybe children. Maybe them.

Chise shut her eyes and squeezed her knees as her thoughts simply grew like a fungus. As her shadow rose up, huge and hungry. It spread like wings until the room felt darker behind her eyelids and people were gasping and the whole place seemed devoid of candles.

Chise opened her eyes and saw only Inko's smile, only her pro-offered hand and the way her knees were digging ceaselessly into the tatami.

"What a strong Quirk," she said in that whisper. "A strong Quirk for a strong girl."

Chise didn't feel strong, not at all. But something in her heart warmed up big and bright at the thought of someone believing it and the room filled with it. It almost felt comfortable.

That was what got Inko's large green eyes to widen to the size of apples and her smile to go a knowing soft way that was like her mother in that photo. Without the strain though, without the weight of nothing being safe or warm ever again. She meant all that wonder in her face and suddenly Chise felt -

Hungry.

Her stomach grumbled. It was louder than the whispering ladies.

She hadn't been hungry in days and the thought of being hungry made her giggle.

Chise watched as Miss Inko did the same, giggling like she was the child, not Chise.

"Let's put some food in you," she said.

Chise, thoroughly charmed, took her hand and left the room - and her mother's altar - behind.

The hands were still on her throat, sure, but they went ignored in the dark, ignored in the sounds of scuttling and monsters. Her shadow squirmed as she walked, but she didn't care.

She wasn't dead. For the first time in days, Chise did not want to die at all. And food would help with that.

* * *

When the funeral ended, Chise was not there. Chise was sitting in the hotel dining hall, chewing on a late brunch and sipping orange juice. She didn't ask about her father, her green eyes ( _we have the same eyes_ , Chise thought, glancing at Inko-san every few seconds and wiggling in delight on the inside every time she saw that) roving the room and her and her food and not caring that her clothes were ragged and her appearance was getting sneered at by onlookers. Inko nibbled on her _yakitori_ skewer as she mumbled to herself. Chise, politely, did not listen in. She was probably figuring out what to say.

Then she looked up at Chise and smiled over her chopsticks. Chise smiled back. It was tremulous, shaking so hard she missed her next spoonful of rice. But she wanted to mean it because Miss Inko was nice.

"Is it good?" When Chise nodded, Inko nodded with her. "I'm glad. I've never been here before." She focused on her bird for a few more minutes.

A chill began to seep into Chise's stomach, taking up more space that the food needs. But then she said,

"Chise-chan? Would you like to come home with me?"

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** Hello, I'm here to bring the pain... and the love to Chise. And Ruth eventually.

Challenges: Epic Masterclass (AMB) 7, Three-Sided Box, Magic Diversity 29.


	2. Chapter 2

_Warnings: Mitsuki, panic attacks, out of control quirks, child trauma._

* * *

 _Part Two - There's a Place For Birds to Rest Their Wings_

When Chise eases the door open to her soon to be former home, the chill, and the creatures inside that chill, hissed their welcome. She swallowed and ignored them, brushing by Inko and letting go of her hand. Embarrassment scrunched her face.

Her home was filthy, there were old dishes in the sink, a smell wafting from the garbage can that was definitely bad and she was starting to think their fridge was turned off again.

Her shoulders hunch as she stands in the doorway and takes it all in. Inko peers over her head into the gloomy room, towards the agape doors that had been left when relatives had come rushing in like gnats where the demons were and the mess of the room.

Chise waits, waits for the smile to turn to anger, for the disdain and rage to come, for the disappointment.

Inko shakes her head, and Chise feels herself start to wilt.

"Well then," she says with surprising firmness to her voice. "This is much better than I expected."

Chise, too young to think of real adults as liars, as strangers not being relatively good to children, is still surprised. "It… it is?"

The light in the room brightens exponentially. She doesn't notice but she does notice the way Inko's eyes dance about the room.

Inko smiles. "We'll need some help but yes, we can get you all settled out here. If you would just give me a second to make a call… why don't you find some of your things?"

Chise hesitates for a moment. If she looks away, the woman can always leave her here and she can't stop her. But that can happen with anyone and anything and she would get in trouble because people had noticed them leave together. They'd probably remember and be afraid of getting in trouble, so they would call the police if they never heard anything.

So she goes into her room and picks up one of the few remaining trash bags along the way. She had shared her room with her mother. All of her things sit in a rickety old chest of drawers which shriek when she opens it and often leaves splinters vying for territory on the pads of her fingers.

Today it doesn't. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day after all, aside from everything else. It might even be good, considering there was no mother to be so angry with her that she wanted her daughter to never be again.

The shadows creak for a moment and struggle to twist themselves to rights as she hurriedly goes through and finds the good things she owns, the few clean clothes and the nicest books. Her favorite blanket.

It isn't much, and murk threatens to expel from her throat at the sight. Miss Inko will have to buy so much. Her mom hadn't left a will, or much money, or… or anything really. She can't possibly have that much. Chise is sure that she's going to be a _drain_ , and then this nice woman will hate her and throw her away like Mother had tried to do.

She squashes that thought, and the darkness with it. This woman is nice. She likes her. She won't do anything like that, ever!

Chise makes herself leave the room and return to the sound of crinkling garbage bags and the smell of dish soap. There is a clinking noise and the static of a radio. They still have electricity and water, thankfully. Soon the news is playing softly overhead.

 _Today, All Might has been seen in the news once again-_

 _The rain is expected to continue for another-_

 _Coming soon to shel-_

 _Villains have been reaching for more rural-_

The shadows of the room flutter and shift to the edges of the walls as Chise returns to the room. She puts her bag by the doorway and earns a charming smile.

"Could you start going through the fridge, Chise-chan?" she asks gently. "A friend of mine will be coming soon to help us get things down the stairs."

There are whispers the shadows say, whispers and monsters lurking underneath the floor and that was all her fault too, she assumes. But she ignores them to nod and go to the fridge. It sticks hard and Chise dug her feet in. She will not disappoint Inko-san, she refuses to. She pulls-

And hundreds of monstrous tiny spiders fall from the open door.

Chise screams.

* * *

It feels like an hour has passed with her on the floor, chewed on and spat on and over the clicking and clacking of insectoid feet. But that hasn't happened and in reality it had only been a handful of minutes. Her skin, her hair, none of it is out of place barring her fall. And Inko is stroking her hair, softly, gently.

"You must have seen something terrible," she hears over her head. "I'm sorry, Chise-chan. One of the last messages from your father was that you and your mother often saw things no one could. It was everything like a quirk, but it wasn't one. It must be lonely."

Lonely. That is exactly what it is. That is exactly how it felt. And now with her mother gone, she _is_ alone with this secret, this knowledge. Papa isn't here, papa and Fumiki had left her here-

The room is dark again, there is no sun in the sky, everything is getting so cloudy. But it can't storm inside. Maybe there really was a hole in their roof and everyone was pretending it isn't there and that was why it was so cold-

Inko's hand smoothes down her hair and suddenly, everything seems too bright, the shadows retreating to corners and under cabinets. Chise breathes out. Then in. Then out, until there weren't any black spots behind her eyes.

"Inko-san?" she whispers.

"I'm here," the woman says in just as quiet of a voice. "I'm here. You're all right. Soon, Izuku will be here with his friend. And her mother. And then we'll be all packed up and to a nice hotel, all right? How does that sound?

It sounds like it should be placating but it isn't. It sounds rather like facts instead, truths of the known universe. The facts let Chise breathe, breathe, breathe and she feels heavy.

"Okay," she manages to say. "That sounds okay."

* * *

Midoriya Izuku is not Bakugo Katsuki.

This is the truth, and no one can deny it. Heck, Bakugo wants everyone to know he is in fact Bakugo Katsuki, the better half, and the powerful half, and it is clear in every vibrant hand the boy thrusts forward and brings up smoke.

Bakugo Katsuki is still young enough at this point to be insulted and cry, to be snubbed and not be able to stand it. So it's only natural that when Chise flees from him behind Inko's leg that he starts to kick up a fuss.

He's also young enough to still be easily shocked out of tears when something that isn't unexpected happens twice in a row.

The shadows rumble over his mother as she swats his head, lightly, and then her hand is being pulled away, yanked high that he stops yelling. Her face is priceless with terror.

And Hatori Chise is staring, staring, _staring_ at them.

"Don't. Do. That." She says, slowly, halting stuttering painful. "Please. You're mom. You shouldn't do that. Please."

Katsuki watches his mother nod slowly, paralyzed by something from the neck down. Chise and the shadows seem to retreat further.

Izuku watches all of this with his usual glee. It's childish, thinks the other child. "WOw!" he says, because he's still young enough to be loud and think happy and not be beaten down down down- "Your quirk is awesome. How did you do that?"

Chise blinks twice and hides further in his mother's skirt instead of answering. Izuku nods smartly, thinking himself very grown up as he answers. "Your quirk must be powerful then."

Katsuki seems to want to say something, his red eyes burning, his heart thumping at being ignored, but his mother's hand is still clammy in his hair and to him that's much, much more important. So he keeps quiet.

"Izuku," Inko-san chides, gently, ever gentle. He pauses, but his eyes are still burning with curiosity.

Introductions are made and they start working. Chise prowls, going into one of the rooms all alone. Inko watches her go with that forlorn face Mitsuki recognizes and Katsuki doesn't remember.

"She's going to be your new sister, Izuku," she says with a firm twist to her mouth. And the look in her eyes is too great for any one person to grasp.

But Izuku does. "Really?"

"Yes," she says in that firm voice. "And your father's just going to have to accept it."

"Well of course he will." Izuku's pure bewilderment, still there, still innocent despite his greatest disappointment. "He's dad!"

Mitsuki watches her best friend's solemnity and smiles at it. But for her, the shadows are still quite cold.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Okay... uhm... wow. I'm just... in awe, if I'm being honest. I... I didn't expect this to get hits, let alone reviews. Thank you, thank all of you so much. This means so much to me. I'm going to keep up with this fic to the best of my ability. I hope you will continue to support myself, Chise, Inko, and Izuku from here. Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

_Warnings: Mama Hatori, nerves, trauma, children are not children, self-esteem issues, messy tenses_

 _Rare Top AN: scheduling these updates for the first Sunday of every month_

* * *

 **Part Three - The Places We Walk Are Worn**

Chise was still shaking. It was not the chill, you got used to being cold very quickly when you were left home alone so often. It was the exhaustion. It was the realization that she was leaving this place _forever_ and she was never ever coming back and no one else either. There were words for it, but she didn't know them. There were feelings for it but she definitely didn't know those. She just knew that she was very cold and very alone.

"Chise-chan?"

They were bundled into a rented van now. The two boys were being buckled in, Chise having already fumbled with the seatbelt. Inko was smiling at her, smiling so soft and bright like a parent should, and she, she was Chise's parent now. Now that Papa had left. She was her aunt but she was her parent. Why?

Why does Inko-san want anything to do with her?

"Uhm, yes?" she asked because she'd been asked a question, it's only polite to answer.

"You all set back there?" Inko-san was incredible at acting like nothing's wrong.

Still Chise nods as if she believed her. "Ye-yes ma'am.'

"Good, good." The car was all packed up and everyone was settled, or silenced, one of the two really.

"Get some rest kiddos," barked Mitsuki-san. "The drive will be over before you know it, that way." She said something else but Chise tuned her out as the main objective has been gained and much worse could have happened otherwise.

She really, _really_ didn't like this woman. But at least she was honest about things. At least she was honest about what she is: mean and rude. She cared for herself and her own and little else. Chise was sure of it, almost as sure as she was that she was not part of what this person considers hers.

Chise looks up at the roof of the car.

Is she becoming part of something new, something full of happy things? Or will this be the start of a long line of people being tired of her for things she can't control?

 _Maybe it's a quirk,_ she thinks. _Maybe it's just a part of me._

Neither of these thoughts bring her any comfort, like people think they ought to, but Chise ends up falling asleep anyway.

* * *

She opens her eyes to a place of almost pure white. Almost because she is flush with color and there is a black space about the size of a moving box, but it is still an uncomfortable shade of white nevertheless. Chise examines her small hands, runs her fingers over her neck. The imprints are gone now but her body remembers. Her heart remembers her mother's hands on her throat.

Alone like this, Chise struggles to remember anything else.

"You're suffering."

Chise blinked and looked up at the black box. It doesn't blink back, which is comforting. But it did talk, so that's a little scary. "Hello?" she tries, biting her lip.

"Hello," says the box. "You shouldn't be here."

Chise feels her shoulders sag a little. She figured that. But then, she's not really supposed to be anywhere, now is she? "Why not?" she asks, so she has a reason not to be again and to avoid it.

"You're too strong," he says. Chise thinks it's a he. "The fair folk will come for you and take you away, and your family won't be able to help. Not like this. They can't see what you do."

"... My quirk?"

The box shuffled about. "No. I'm your Quirk. At least I think I am. This isn't your Quirk. This is what was left behind by people. The magic."

"The magic…" Chise repeats, dubious. But then, it would make sense. If it wasn't a quirk, it had to be magic.

"Yes." The box sounded impatient. "I'm your Quirk and I help you with your magic. But I'm missing from you."

"... How?" Quirks were supposed to be a part of the person that had them, so that didn't make sense at all.

"Your magic is lacking so your quirk is lacking." He said this like he should be obvious. It wasn't and that burned her cheeks. "You just need a stabilizer to make it work properly. Aka, me."

"Who are you?"

The box let out a sound like a tired animal. A bone tired animal. "You know, Chise, I don't really know."

A heavy pothole jolted her against the seatbelt and Chise awoke, darkness thrumming over her hands. Little balls of black dust danced over the van windows. The smaller children slept on and their parents chattered on, oblivious.

Chise swallowed and shut her eyes again. She wasn't going to get any more sleep for a while.

* * *

They arrived at Mustafu with two whining, hungry children and a third pretending she didn't want to whine and be hungry. This was, for some reason, hilarious to the adults and they stopped at a diner place to eat. Chise swallowed. They didn't get to go to these very often. Chise often cooked cheap basic foods, did some of the chores, taught herself things.

Because of what tended to flit around her like lice, she didn't go out much.

Therefore, seeing a hamburger steak with a little meal flag was enough to make her burst into tears. Inko watched worriedly over her food, Mitsuki with slowly growing utter anxiety.

Katsuki huffed over his syrup covered pancakes. "What's the matter with you? It's just food."

"It's not!"

Chise stopped crying at the sound of Izuku's voice, soft and steady. At the sight of everyone in their booth staring at him, Izuku almost shrunk in his chair, but he persisted anyway, much to Katsuki's growing rage. "You get _everything_ , Kacchan. You don't get what it's like to _not_ get something."

Katsuki glared, and opened his mouth to speak. Then he closed it and dug into his food with extra gusto instead of answering.

"That was the easiest he's gone down in ages," Mitsuki marveled.

Inko looked her in the eye over her sandwich. "Yes, I wonder why that would be." She said nothing more and Mitsuki regarded her with a heavy expression.

"You're going to have to get her tested, you know," she said after Chise was no longer in tears and was cautiously cutting up her food like it would eat her instead of the other way around. "She's not like Izuku."

"No one is like Izuku," Inko said sternly. "And that will come later. Right now, my duty is to take her in. We'll worry about her quirk and her problems once she's able to stay." She wiped her fingers a bit too forcefully and smiled as she did it. "One thing at a time Mitsuki-san."

Mitsuki made a face of irritation. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Don't say I haven't warned you either."

There were things that Bakugo Mitsuki could see when she wasn't thinking of her son as the sun and stars. She could see the pain and fear that Midoriya Inko thinks she can handle. She could see the way Izuku chafed at her son's growing sense of self worth. She could see the ferocity that kept her going in a cutthroat world was not helping her son.

What she could not see is what she can do to stop it.

Likewise, Midoriya Inko was still able to see the pain her son is in. She was able to see the path Katsuki was running at head first. She was able to see where Chise was suffering, and what she can do about it.

That is why, when they finish and begin to pack up and Chise cleans herself up in the bathroom, Inko kneels down to her son and looks him in the eyes.

"You're doing great Izuku."

Her son blushed. "Chise-chan is nice. I like her."

"I'm glad. She's going to need you."

"She is?" Izuku tilted her head. "But her quirk seems really strong."

Inko chose her words carefully. Izuku was young and this world was old and very defined. "You're right. Her quirk seems very strong. But she's been hurt very much, and there is little a strong quirk can do for that. She needs a different kind of hero. The kind of hero that you can be. A hero that doesn't need a quirk to be strong, just a heart."

As she speaks, her son's eyes grew wider and wider.

"I can be her hero?" he sid in a whisper.

Inko smiled and pretendd like her eyes weren't wet. "She needs you to be."

His small hands curled into fists. "I'll do it," he declared. Then he paused. "What do I have to do?"

Inko looked up and saw Chise walking out of the bathroom. "For now, go hold her hand. Your hands are very warm and if you ask, she'll likely say yes."

Izuku nodded very seriously and ran to do so, gesturing animatedly until Chise's pale fingers closed over his palm.

The sight of their two smiles, one big and one small, reassured Inko as they began the last leg of the journey home.


End file.
